Fugitive John McAfee surfaces in Guatemala to claim asylum

Internet security pioneer breaks cover after month on the run following Belize killing

FUGITIVE John McAfee, the anti-virus software entrepreneur, has surfaced in Guatemala nearly a month after going on the run in Belize following the murder of his neighbour.

Appearing at a press conference in Guatemala City yesterday, the 67-year-old who sold the cyber security company that bears his name in the 1990s said he was seeking political asylum after fleeing Belize.

According to the LA Times he looked "dapper in a trim pinstripe suit and [was] flanked by a newly attained lawyer and the 20-year-old girlfriend he says he intends to wed".

McAfee disappeared last month after police said they wanted to question him about the death of Florida businessman Gregory Faull, who was shot dead on 11 November.

Since then a bizarre pantomime has played out as McAfee blogged details of his life on the run and gave a series of interviews in which he protested his innocence and claimed the Belize police would kill him if he was captured.

"The stranger-than-fiction events that have unfolded over the weeks following Faull's murder have provided plenty of fodder for drama-starved tech journalists - guns, drugs, poisoned dogs, plenty of young women, a body double and a North Korean passport all play into the saga," said the LA Times, which reported that at one point McAfee disguised himself as a "Speedo-clad German tourist".

The BBC recounts some of the methods he has used to avoid detection. "He changed his appearance by dying his hair and beard, sticking chewed bubble gum to his upper gums to fatten his face and staining his teeth," it claims.

There could be one last twist. According to CNN, Belize police still believe McAfee is based on their side of the border despite his appearance in neighbouring Guatemala City, while the Guatemalan authorities say they have no record of an asylum application and no idea how McAfee got into the country.